Attacking a miss matched pair

[LyalC52]

Last night was week 1 of a Monday adult/youth summer league. I'd heard that the pair we bowled on were notorious for being two completely different lanes, but this was the first time I'd actually bowled on them. (Lanes 1 and 2, Jack and Jill Lanes, AF Utah)

We were the second shift and there may or may not have been some open bowling on them. Needless to say they were very different.
Mid way through the first game I started writing down what I was seeing on each lane, trying to isolate each.

I didn't have any paper so I was writing on the table (and yes I did get some cleaner and wipe it up after)
I've heard that back in the days of wood lanes, guys would keep charts on all the lanes. I'm thinking I need to do this with this pair since our leagues is only 8 teams and I expect we will bowl this pair a handful of times more.

How do you deal with miss matched pairs?

[Mike White]

Last night was week 1 of a Monday adult/youth summer league. I'd heard that the pair we bowled on were notorious for being two completely different lanes, but this was the first time I'd actually bowled on them. (Lanes 1 and 2, Jack and Jill Lanes, AF Utah)

We were the second shift and there may or may not have been some open bowling on them. Needless to say they were very different.
Mid way through the first game I started writing down what I was seeing on each lane, trying to isolate each.

I didn't have any paper so I was writing on the table (and yes I did get some cleaner and wipe it up after)
I've heard that back in the days of wood lanes, guys would keep charts on all the lanes. I'm thinking I need to do this with this pair since our leagues is only 8 teams and I expect we will bowl this pair a handful of times more.

How do you deal with miss matched pairs?

Treat each lane as if it's unique.

Last weekend I had a league do sweeps in Vegas (South Point).

We were scheduled to bowl at 12:00, and I got down to the center at about 9:30.

The lanes we were scheduled to bowl on were empty, but another group was on the opposite side.

Watching them bowl, it was clear they didn't put out a hard shot.

One guy shot 279, 26x, then split the 10th frame to just miss shooting 800.

That would have implied that the pair I was going to bowl on should be in great shape, however.....

At about 10:00 some open bowlers came in, and they put them on the pairs my league was going to use.

So noon rolls around and we get started.

Right lane has plenty of ball reaction, and left lane has a little less, but enough for me to use urethane on both lanes.

I shot 221 the first game.

Part way thru the second game the oil on the left lane migrated down in front of the pocket big time, while the right lane started hooking a bit more.

One split on the right lane, and a missed 2-4-5 on the left, and I shot 171.

The last game I used a resin ball on the left lane, and stayed with the urethane on the right to finish with 232.

The problem was, people on lanes that didn't have open bowling shot a ton.

One 4 person team (2 men 2 women) shot a 998 scratch game.

[Jessiewoodard57]

That would suck to watch the lanes you will be bowling league on be used for open bowling 2 hours before your league starts. Last Saturday we went to our regular house for open bowling (unlimited games 10 dollars). We arrived at 4pm and wow were we surprised to get 2 fresh lanes 15 and 16 right smack in the middle of the house had never been used that day. Normally by that time of day they are all but dry.

[RobLV1]

The first thing that you need to do is to get it out of your head that "pairs" of lanes match. They rarely do. Sometimes the difference is small and sometimes it is massive. There are really two ways to attack lanes that are totally different. First, you may choose to use different bowling balls on each lane to help to bring them closer together. This will allow you to play similar (but not exactly the same) lines on both lanes. The other thing that you can try, is to let the lanes dictate how you play them. You may find that you can use a more aggressive ball on the hooking lane, playing further inside, and a less aggressive ball on the tighter lane, playing further outside.

[Tony]

It seems like a crappy thing to do to your league bowlers to let open bowlers on the lanes and not recondition the lanes before leagues start.
Makes me feel a little better about how our league is treated, (at least with lane conditions) the lanes are freshly reconditioned about 30 minutes before we bowl.
It's possible that they forgot a few times this year but for the most part I am there and see them running the machine down the lanes. I guess that's one reason we are always dealing with heavy oil but that's way better than the alternative.

[vdubtx]

It seems like a crappy thing to do to your league bowlers to let open bowlers on the lanes and not recondition the lanes before leagues start.
Makes me feel a little better about how our league is treated, (at least with lane conditions) the lanes are freshly reconditioned about 30 minutes before we bowl.
It's possible that they forgot a few times this year but for the most part I am there and see them running the machine down the lanes. I guess that's one reason we are always dealing with heavy oil but that's way better than the alternative.

That happens all the time. My Tuesday league house only oils at 2pm and let's open bowlers on the lanes after they are done oiling. It was pretty rare that we had a fresh shot on any lanes in this house. Thursday league once they oil, nobody can bowl on them.

[ALazySavage]

I prefer to go with the take what the lanes give you method, essentially playing the shot you are given on each lane rather than trying to make equipment choices/line choices to bring the two shots closer. That being said, I have found that I do better when using two different balls in the situation. Essentially by using different equipment it is a type of mental trigger I get that helps me prepare/visualize the shot I'm about to throw.

[RobLV1]

Keep in mind that lanes are not only different because of open play before league. Lane topography plays a major roll in how individual lanes react, even when freshly oiled. In a perfect world, every lane is perfectly flat, from end to end, and side to side, but we don't live (or bowl) in a perfect world. Very slight depressions or raised areas can play havoc with shots on a certain part of the lane, and part of every bowler's job is to learn to recognize the differences between lanes, and learn to deal with them either with ball changes, or how each lane is played in terms of line.

[Stormed1]

It is not unusual to see differences lane to lane. For example in my Monday night league last year the right lane consistantly played 4-6 boards tighter than the left. I adjusted to this by throwing a Disturbed on the right lane and a Deranged on the left. By using 2 balls with the same core but different coverstocks (solid on right and pearl on left) I was able to basically play the same line on both lanes

[Aslan]

I used to hate them because it meant using a different ball for each lane and my balls were all drilled differently...making it a disadvantage.

Now I almost equally hate them because it means using 2 different balls and having to change VISE inserts between shots.

Generally I only see about a 1-board difference lane-to-lane...especially on Tuesdays where the lanes are < 2 years old. But I've been known to throw different balls on each lane...one of the few in not the only one most nights.